6 Channel Audio?

[Scottismo]

I am considering buying the Asus P4C800 motherboard which has the "ADI AD1985 SoundMAX 6-channel CODEC" onboard sound. This is obviously going to be far superior than my current soundcard from 1998 (Yamaha Waveforce 192XG) but I was wondering; does 6 channel mean it supports 5.1 or 6.1? I ideally want 6.1 which would mean purchasing the Audigy 2 card and speakers if 6 channel means it will run 5.1. Please help!

 

[TKH]

6 channel audio is 5.1. There are 5 satelites (Front L/R, Rear L/R, Center) plus subwoofer (LFE). So basically if you want 6.1 which is 7 channel you should get at least Creative Audigy2 (6.1ch) or Hercules Fortissimo III/DigiFire (7.1ch), M-Audio Revolution 7.1 etc.

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[JimmyDean]

Just because it has a 6 channel codec does not mean it will encode in 5.1. Like the ALC650 6 channel codec has channels in your windows mixer for the surround, but the board might not have outputs

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